


In the Spirit of Second Chances

by SomeoneAsGoodAsYou (the_wanlorn)



Series: An Advent-ure in Christmas Spirit [11]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Advent Calendar, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, chloe has had it up to here, with Lucifer's shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 06:41:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17177852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_wanlorn/pseuds/SomeoneAsGoodAsYou
Summary: A quiet night in. Dinner and a movie. Good thing Lucifer and Chloe aren't being awkward around each other or anything!!





	In the Spirit of Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> This is not the end. This is only the beginning.

Chloe wasn't at all surprised when Lucifer showed up after work and demanded to make dinner himself. He had been acting... strange in the 36 hours since she told him that she was done being the one to make the first move. Something inside her clenched at the reminder that, once again, she had offered him her heart on a platter and he had rejected it. It stole her breath for a moment, and Lucifer looked over, concerned, but she waved him off and back to stirring the pot of spaghetti sauce he was making.

It wasn't that he was being distant, although he was. It wasn't that things were tense between them, although they were. It was his face every time she didn't touch him.

She knew that he noticed every time she went to put a hand on his arm or tap his shoulder or whatever and chose not to. And every time, he would get this look on his face like she was stabbing him in the heart before he pasted on a cheery smile — which she could tell was fake; who did he think he was fooling? — and moved the conversation along.

What right did he have? When he was the one who chose to force her hand into ending the flirtation between them? As hard as it was to stop, she just couldn't do it anymore. She couldn't have her hopes lifted every time he did or said something that made it sound like he cared, like he _wanted_ her, and then have them dashed when he pushed her away.

She could swear she spent half the day with her hand curled into a fist to stop herself from reaching out to him.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" she offered again from her spot leaning against the counter. Trixie was in her room, playing, so it was just them in the kitchen. It was, perhaps, the most comfortable silence they had shared since she made the mistake of kissing him.

"Of course," he said, glancing to her and quickly away. He moved to the sink and filled a pot with water before setting it on the stove-top to boil. "I said I would make you dinner and I shall, Detective. You can just relax."

She nodded slightly, but didn't move. If she looked at it logically, she could see that he was trying, and he was trying _so hard_. A part of her appreciated it and wanted to put him out of his misery, tell him that everything was okay and she forgave him. That she understood he wasn't interested, and that was okay, too.

But she just couldn't. It _wasn't_ okay, at least not yet. She was sure it would be in time, but in the moment? She was... hurt.

"Detective, I-" he said, eyes focused on the pot in front of him, and then didn't continue.

She waited patiently even though she knew she could never out-wait his issues. When he didn't continue, a tic in his jaw the only evidence that he was upset, she sighed and pushed herself away from the counter. She walked around him to the fridge and pulled out the bottle of wine she'd put in there earlier.

The glass she poured was maybe a bit too full for polite company, but this was Lucifer. If there was anything he would understand, it was the desire to get drunk. Desire and drink were both his thing, after all.

She returned to her spot leaning against the counter. Lucifer gave the pot of sauce a final stir before moving it off the burner to cool a little and came to stand next to her. Far too close in her opinion, after everything that had happened.

His hand was too close to hers, so close that the little hairs on her arms were standing at attention. The first time his pinky finger brushed hers, she thought it was an accident. The second time, she gave him the benefit of the doubt. The third time, she jerked away and whirled on him.

"You need to make up your mind," she spat as she slammed down the glass of wine and crossed her hands over her chest, taking a step back from him.

"I-" he started, looking bewildered and hurt.

She didn't give him a chance to protest that he didn't know what she was talking about. "The mixed signals, Lucifer, they have to stop. Either you want to be with me or not, but _you have to make up your mind_."

His face crumpled for a moment, just long enough to make her feel bad for yelling, and then his featured smoothed out into just confusion.

"Of course I want to be with you," he said carefully. "That was never in question."

"Speak for yourself," she muttered, and his face crumpled again, this time staying that way. He reached out for her, but she took another step back and he let his arm drop.

"I'm sorry," he said, that tic in his jaw back, "that I ever made you feel like I didn't want you. That I made you feel that you aren't the- the light of my universe, the center of- of my everything. You're my North Star and I- I'm not-" He trailed off, his face twisted with a mixture of sadness and frustration.

"Those are pretty words, Lucifer," she said, ignoring the warmth in her chest that had probably spread to her cheeks. "But that's all they are. I need something more, or you need to content yourself with being my friend and stop crossing that line."

He looked conflicted, and her heart sank. She could do it; she could be friends with him and nothing more, but it would _hurt_. It would hurt just as much as all his other rejections had, and she would've thought she would be used to it by now. But it still felt like her heart was being torn out of her chest.

"It's never been you, darling," he finally said, and she threw up her hands in disgust and turned away from him.

Before she could walk away, go cool off somewhere away from him, he had grabbed her shoulder and was turning her back to him. She tried to shrug him off, and he let go immediately, but something had her pausing before making her escape, pausing long enough for him to start talking again.

" _Please_ ," he was saying. "Don't walk away. I- Every time we try to do- this, do us, something catastrophic happens and I can't-" His face was pained as he said, "I can't lose you."

"If you lose me, it'll be your own damn fault," she said and pressed her lips together for a moment, unsure if she regretted saying that or not. "And something catastrophic? Like when _you_ ran away to get married? Or how about just yesterday morning when _you_ decided you didn't want to even try?"

Her eyes were burning, and she had to look up to stop the tears from falling. When she looked back at Lucifer, he didn't look any better, his eyes red-rimmed and watery.

"You need to choose," she said, shaking her head. "I can't do this back-and-forth anymore."

She turned away from him again and made it almost to the door before Lucifer was there, in her face, cupping her cheeks and tilting her head up, and then his mouth was on hers.

The kiss was inelegant and nothing like their previous kisses, just a harsh press of lips and a desperation that Chloe didn't like. She pulled back and he chased her lips for an instant before regaining control of himself and stopping, straightening with a defeated look in his eyes.

"I-" he started, but she shushed him with a press of fingers to his lips.

"Do you really want to be doing this?" she asked, needing to make sure that he wasn't just kissing her because he thought he would lose her if he didn't.

He kissed the tips of her fingers before she dropped her hand and said, quietly "Yes, of course. I want nothing more."

She felt a bright smile spread across her face and cupped his cheek, rubbing her thumb across his scruff. He never lied, especially not to her, so she took it as the simple truth. "Good."

She slid her hand around the back of his neck, threading her fingers into the hair there, and stood on her tiptoes so she could kiss him. He gasped, as though he hadn't really expected her to do it, before kissing back with an intensity she didn't think she'd ever felt. Still, his lips were soft against hers, and when she made a delighted noise in the back of her throat, she could feel his lips quirk in a devilish grin.

He nipped her bottom lip and soothed the hurt with his tongue as she opened her mouth to him. He met her touch for touch, the heat between them growing before she had to break away with a gasped, "Dinner."

He stared at her for a moment, his eyes hazy with want, before he shook his head and nodded. "Right. Right, dinner."

He licked his lips and she couldn't resist darting back in for a quick peck before backing off and running her hand through her hair, fanning her face, ignoring Lucifer's self-satisfied smirk. He looked just as wrecked as she felt, so he had no ground to stand on. If it hadn't been for Trixie's presence in the other room, she would've wiped that smirk right off his face.

As it was, dinner was full of meaningful glances and light touches that passed under Trixie's notice. She chattered away, and both Chloe and Lucifer put in the appropriate responses at the appropriate times, but Chloe's mind was elsewhere. Specifically, focused on the man sitting beside her, who kept brushing her arm with his as they ate, looking all innocent like she wouldn't know it was on purpose.

Two could play that game. She let one of her shoes fall off her foot and slowly, ever so slowly, ran her foot up his leg. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, and at the first touch his eyes widened, and as her foot crept higher he swallowed, hard.

She wondered if she'd ever get used to being able to affect him so obviously like that. He wasn't even trying to play it cool with her, and she appreciated it. No, she _loved_ it. He caught her grin and returned it with one of his own, clearly delighted by her. She knew how he felt.

They let Trixie choose the movie before she cuddled up to Chloe, who sat in the middle of the couch. Lucifer hesitated for a moment, until she patted the cushion next to her and he smiled, soft and bright. When he sat, he lifted his arm in invitation, letting her snuggle up to him. A tightness in her chest eased at that. Maybe this would work out.

THE END


End file.
